The Role of Children’s Movies Weighs Heavily in the Tackling and Fumbling of Obesogenic
Issues

LewisFirst, MD, MA, Editor in Chief, Pediatrics

The media’s influence both positively and negatively on children is a frequent topic
of study in our journal and others. This week, we add to that evidence-base with a
study by Howard et al. (10.1542/peds.2017-2126) looking at the prevalence of obesity-promoting behaviors or stigma as displayed
in recent popular children’s movies. The authors looked at the 31 top-grossing films
from 2012-2015 and for each ten minute segment of a film, raters identified and described
what was being eaten, the activity and whether there was weight-related dialogue being
observed in a film. The results are concerning to us and will likely be to you as
well. 100 % of the films studied had obesity-promoting content involving unhealthy
foods, larger than recommended portion sizes, plenty of sugar-sweetened beverages
being drunk, and more weigh-based stigma such as verbal insults about someone being
overweight or obese. Even more concerning was that these findings were not isolated
ones in each of the 31 films, but occurred repeatedly in each.

Do you talk about films seen by your patients with your patients? Do you tell them
to focus on the healthy and unhealthy behaviors being observed and then share their
thoughts on these behaviors with their families or with you? Perhaps this study will
trigger increased awareness of what our children are being exposed to in films and
lead to better preventive strategies starting with what they choose to snack on when
they do go to the movies. We certainly know the influence of smoking and other risk-taking
behaviors depicted in films viewed by teens, but this study now opens the door to
additional themes we might not have thought about before thanks to the information
one should digest first by reading this study and then sharing what you learn with
your patients-especially those who are at risk for becoming increasingly overweight
or obese.